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USW OutCast 2015 Special (Intensity Special Episode)
'USW OutCast 2015 '(also known as the USW OutCast 2015 Special) was a professional wrestling special produced by Ultimate Showcase Wrestling. The event became the first USW special to not be aired on pay per view since October of 2013, and was the first USW special to replace their weekly program Wednesday Night Intensity. The show was produced as a free live special, with most motive going into hoping that the event would increase subscribers to their networking and streaming service. The event took place on July 8, 2015 in the Matthew J Casey Memorial Coliseum in Hartford, Connecticut. The show included nine matches, with six of those matches being for championships. A future Intensity special event was planned for later on in the year, but was moved among bad weather conditions on the night of the event, making the OutCast 2015 event the only special event to replace Wednesday Night Intensity in USW in the year of 2015. The USW Caution 2015 Special took place later in the year, but was held as a free show on a Sunday, instead of replacing Wednesday Night Intensity on a Wednesday. The event drew in positive reviews with an average rating of 9.2/10 based on thirty-eight reviews. Many reviewers praised the promotion's build up over the previous two weeks into the show for the event itself. The special ended up being a very successful move for the promotion, increasing network and streaming service subscriptions by twelve percent. The show would also be the final Ultimate Showcase Wrestling show where the World Heavyweight Championship would be referred to as the USW World Heavyweight Championship. Event Background The kickoff match was announced to feature TJ defending the USW Extreme Championship against Crimson Red in a No Disqualifications match. The mid-card matches featured YoYo Joe competing against Cannon, Dustin Ramond defending his previously won 2015 Key and Ca$e contract against Simon St., and Zack Hardy battling Majagetta in a No Disqualifications match. The other two mid-card championships in the promotion were also defended, with Prophecy defending the Blue Belt Championship against Anarchy, and Ash defending the International Championship against the former champion James. The USW Tag Team Championships were also defended on the show, with Ezarank Hills and Benny Franklin defending the championships against Indigo Reaction in a much anticipated rematch from their match at that years' Call To Greatness event. The promotions two world championships were also defended on the show; as Westernlight defended the USW World Heavyweight Championship against former champion Seth, and Alexander Rotten defending the USW Championship against Lone Wolf in the main event on the card. Show On the kickoff match; Crimson Red defeated TJ in a No Disqualifications match to become the new USW Extreme Championship. YoYo Joe defeated Cannon in a mid-card match. Simon St. would defeat Dustin Ramond on the mid-card where the stipulation was that if Dustin Ramond lost, Simon St. would become the new holder of the 2015 Key and Case championship opportunity contract, making Simon St. the new holder of the 2015 Key and Case championship contract. Majagetta would defeat Zack Hardy in a No Disqualifications match. Prophecy would defeat Anarchy via submission to retain the Blue Belt Championship, while Ash would defeat James to retain the International Championship. In the co-main events, Westernlight would defeat Seth to retain the USW World Heavyweight Championship. And in the primary main event; Lone Wolf would defeat Alexander Rotten via disqualification with the USW Championship on the line. However; with the professional wrestling rule that a championship cannot change hands via a disqualification or a count out, Alexander Rotten remained in control of the USW Championship to end the show. Results Criticism and Controversy The Key and Case Contract Switch Original anger from fans was met when Dustin Ramond won the 2015 Key and Case match, becoming the new holder of the Key and Case championship opportunity contract due to the performer being heavily rumored to be soon leaving the promotion all together. After hearing the fans, Ultimate Showcase Wrestling management decided to take the contract off the hands of Dustin Ramond and put the contract on Simon St. However; it was soon after rumored that Simon St. wanted to be released from his contract with the promotion, and that Ultimate Showcase Wrestling was open to letting the performer go, angering the fans at the idea that the contract was once again on the hands of someone who would not be able to use it properly, or would have to rush to use it, giving away the element of surprise whenever a performer decides to utilize the opportunity. The switch reportedly angered Ramond heavily, as he was in talks with the promotion to use the opportunity soon after the OutCast special, losing in his championship match against whomever the champion was at the time, making the champion look much better in the role that they were in. According to Ramond, he was under the understanding that the promotion was to put him over in the match against Simon St at the OutCast special, in a way of adding an element of unpredictability as tho who would walk out of the special as the holder of the championship opportunity. Ramond said that he was told by the booker's of the promotion that he was to drop the championship opportunity at the special three days before the event, which many speculate the reason for his increase in wanting to leave the promotion in 2016. Dustin Ramond would officially end his first run with the promotion in mid-2017, as fellow Ultimate Showcase Wrestling performer Zack Hardy would announce on his personal/business YouTube channel, and Twitter wrestling personality "The Wrestle Target" a social media subsidiary of the UnitardZ Productions brand would shortly thereafter confirm the performer's departure from the promotion. Criticism of the promotion using the event as a marketing strategy Shortly after the event, while many reviewers praised the promotion for their marketing strategy of the special to increase subscriptions to their network and streaming service, many other reviewers also criticized the promotion for clearly trying to influence the viewer's decision to subscribe to the network and/or streaming service. A few reviewers cited that the move was highly unnecessary and disrespectful to their audience, as the promotion's fan base is thought to be one of the most loyal in the United States. Reviewers pushed the promotion for an apology directed to their fans for "trying to take advantage of the audience and selfishly influencing their decisions to purchase either of the promotion's services." The promotion released a statement almost four days after the event, with a major excerpt from the statement being; "The promotion is very grateful for the fan base that follows the company wherever they are and whenever they are holding an event. The event was undoubtedly a silent marketing campaign to help increase the viewer's interest in the overall product enough to encourage them to purchase one or both of the streaming service, or network service. We will not apologize for exercising our right as an American company to run marketing campaigns, as without them being used by the promotion in the past, the promotion itself would not currently exist." The promotion's networking service increased in subscriptions by five percent, and their streaming service increased in subscriptions by nine percent. After the promotion's statement on the criticism of their marketing strategy, the promotion's networking service increased in subscriptions by another eighteen percent, while their streaming services increased in subscriptions by another twenty-nine percent.